Giuliano Wheel Balancers
This is where the coming together of two great names has made us ‘greater than the sum of our parts’. Giuliano has been supplying wheel balancers for decades, but in recent years has really developed their balancing offering to a much greater degree, becoming a true manufacturer and serious player in this particular sector. In the UK, this has been helped tremendously by the acquisition of the Balco brand and knowhow.
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Balco, a ‘portmanteau’ (a word made from blending two words – don’t worry, we had to Google it too!) for the Balancing Company, boasts a heritage that goes way back to the early 80s in San Jose, California.A couple of chaps who came from what was then one of the US’ largest balancer manufacturers, Nortron, left to establish their own company designing and manufacturing a select set of projects based on a new concept they had developed. One of these was a revolutionary (excuse the pun) wheel and tyre balancing machine, which eventually became known as ‘handspin’ technology. Read more about the story of Balco.The principle was simple, and based on some technological advancements of the time. Traditionally, wheel balancers generally needed to have the cycle spin operating at circa 250 to 400 rpm in order to detect the imbalance. That is quite some speed, a speed at which water or debris could easily fly off the wheel assembly, and therefore as protection the machine had to incorporate a large wheel guard or ‘hood’. These two technical entrepreneurs developed a method of balancing that could establish the imbalance of a rim/tyre assembly at just 90 rpm, a speed which was so sedate that a hood wasn’t even required.The benefits of this were numerous, the main attractions being smaller footprint, no motor required as the wheel could be manually brought to speed, lower cost to manufacturer, and less moving parts to wear. Consequently, the ‘handspin’ balancer went on to be one of the key landmarks in wheel balancing evolution. Balco also went on to manufacture motorised models, but always utilising their then patented low spin technology.Today, as part of the prestigious Giuliano Automotive Group, this ethos for pioneering and setting new standards has helped form the mentality and passion for a range of equally user-friendly, competitive, and technologically-advanced wheel balancers to meet all applications and budgets. From entry-level, low cost versions through to premium, high-performance and high-specification options. And of course, in a nod to the legacy and living proof of the validity of the technology even today, we even have a 'handspin' model - essentially the 5th generation since that 80’s innovation.
